We Are Capable of Amazing Things…If We Allow Ourselves To Dream

The human mind is capable of amazing things. If you take a look at history, the amount of time between major events is pretty short even though it may seem they are worlds apart.

Think about it…

On December 17, 1903 the Wright Brothers brought the human race into the air with the first successful, controlled, powered flight in the Wright Flyer 1. In a short 66 years later on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong put man’s first step on the moon. When you put those events in that context, it doesn’t seem like that long of a period where huge strides were made in technology purely through the collaboration and imagination of people.

We Are Our #1 Worst Enemy

With that in mind, what keeps us from achieving our dreams? We all have ideas and aspirations that will take our lives to that next level. However, we watch people every day be content with the average. We put our dreams aside for the stability of not ‘rocking the boat’. We convince ourselves that keeping things as they are is better than having to deal with failure. We watch as mainstream media tries to convince us that you are ‘unique’ while beating in actions that make us all the same.

While it may seem at times that it is the fault of someone else or circumstances that brought us to where we are now, the reality is that our own fears and self doubt is the biggest deterrent to forward progress in our own lives. We believe the hype. We change our course and ability to test our own limits off the thought that failure or rejection must be so bad that it is not worth the reward. The more we try to push the limits of what we consider normal, the more others who are happy with staying in the status quo try to keep us down. Why are you disrupting the way things are going? We are happy with the way things are…or are we?

True innovators ignore the critics and continue to dream…

The reality in the world in which we live is that when you step outside of the box, you are going to get shot at. That is just a fact. The Wright Brothers were ridiculed and basically called insane for their ideas at the time, but now air travel is the most efficient way to travel and ship goods. It was their ability to believe in their dream that made it a reality.

We have to allow ourselves to dream. We have to allow forward progress through the testing of those dreams. Are they all going to work out? No. Are the successful ones going to work right away. Absolutely not. Are you going to have to cross hurdles and work incredibly hard to achieve what you truly want in life? Absolutely.

When we start destroying dreams as a society, we are dancing on very dangerous territory.

So…some of you might be thinking the following…

Great Robb! But how the hell does this apply to me? I don’t have any ideas like the first flight!

And you are right. We are not all going to have that idea that completely changes the world and that is ok. We do, however, have that one idea that can change our own reality. We just haven’t given it an honest chance. We either gave up too early or started to believe the hype of people who didn’t really care to begin with. We found that one excuse or failure that triggered the quitter in our mind and we let it go there. We became satisfied with the notion that ‘it will never happen anyway…so why try’.

We do not have to be innovators for the world, but we can be innovators in our own lives for our own families.

If you have dreams, professional or personal, it is up to you to make it happen. You can not let roadblocks deter you from accomplishing your goals. If you keep the dream alive, you will find a way to get around those that think it can’t happen. It just takes believing in yourself and your ability to get something done. There is so much talent in this world that is wasted due to self doubt and glorified critics.

I was sitting this morning watching this video that is a string of amazing feats by people. With a string of YouTube clips cut together, this video makes you once again realize what we are really capable of. Normal people…doing amazing things. It reminded me that I have several projects that I have either been holding back on or shelved for the very same reasons I listed above. It gave me inspiration to get the needed tasks done in my own life to make those a reality. The people in this video had the drive and the willingness to make their idea a reality. We are capable of amazing things. We just have to make it happen for ourselves.

The whole time I was watching the video, I was thinking how much practice those achievements took. There’s times when I want to make my dreams come true over night and give up on things when they don’t happen soon enough.

Which one was you Robb? Good to see an old english telephone box in a bike clip!
A main obstacle that gets in our way is fear; ‘false evidence appearing real’ and dealing with this can be complex, even when the risk might seem minimal.
Unlike your great montage, where the risk looks life threatening!

I wish! The biking clips were actually taken from sequences by Danny MacAskill. We helped launch a YouTube video for him last year that went crazy viral (millions of views). He is now in everything from mainstream media to a new Hollywood production.

Once we overcome fear and the idea that something is impossible, we start doing amazing stuff. The video is just a tiny proof of the amazing things that people can do.
Isn’t just as amazing to be able to write and share ideas with millions of people around the world? Not too long ago it was truly hard, now it’s easy.
Thanks for this wonderful article Rob, sharing it around! 🙂

“However, we watch people every day be content with the average. We put our dreams aside for the stability of not ‘rocking the boat’.”

The prelude to this is a combination of a weak will, and decades of societal/family conditioning. It’s hard to overcome, and there will never be a shortage of “peanut galleries” tell you something is impossible.

Being confident in your decisions right or wrong, and taking action is the first step to achieving something great.